Hello my friends – here’s the latest episode of “Hard Truth and a Big Hug”. It’s a small part of a book that I haven’t yet got around to publishing – but I thought the big ideas and the final take-away were
I have to say, I’m still sad that we didn’t decide to develop Downsview (former military airfield and site of DHC – de Havilland Canada – builder of the best bush-planes ever made). There was definitely room up there for a new
One of the more intriguing characters I ran across at Fan Expo was this guy – I feel fairly confident in saying that he would like to be referred-to as duckman. Energetic and prepared. Plus – (and for his business, it’s a
There are a few different reasons I love this particular festival – one of them is the costumes one sees on proud display – ranging from the silly to the incredible – for nostalgia, hilarity and on-the-street cognitive dissonance, it’s among the
There are few things prettier than grand pre-war towers – and banks were particularly great for investing in sculptural art and durable embellishment. This is a detail of one of my very favourite buildings in the financial core of Toronto – the
One of the best things about being a writer and a generalist, is that you have a great excuse to ask all sorts of questions about the world, representing everyone’s curious ignorance (rather than having to admit to your own). If you
Heterodyning is cool stuff – yes you do know what I mean – when you’re tuning one note to match up to another, and you get close, and you hear the difference-frequency showing up like a wow-wow-wow sound, beating inside those main
I have yet to hear or read about any country which does not try to paint it’s own military as courageous self-sacrificing heroes, and any group or country which they oppose, as a bunch of horrible lousy evil bastards – it’s a
Here’s a detail from a local wooden phone-pole, which interested me for a few different reasons. For one thing, it’s still bearing it’s load, cracked as it is, despite the fact that the work crews were replacing the far newer concrete poles
Funny thing about books about writing – it’s very hard to tell the good ones from the lousy ones until you’ve already learned the basics the hard way – as with most things, no solution ever really sinks-in, unless you’re working hard
A couple of curious structures with funny clue-full history today. First up – a truly magnificent avian mansion, which was erected down by the waterfront a few years ago, as part of the un-development along the lakeshore. I’ve got to admit, I
Rather like the rusted hulk of a great and venerable steamship, Honest Ed’s is now being dismantled, and there is much talk of some sort of museum to commemorate this very particular Toronto landmark. The sign may perhaps seem to those from
One of the ways you know for sure you’ve found a perfect ally for mischief, is when you don’t ever have to cue the other one to ‘be cool’ in a situation with a bit of bluff built in. Another, is when
I adore Miro, Klee, Mondrian, Kandinsky and a few others – but on the whole I am a very tough-sell on abstracts. Not because I’m grumpy (that’s a separate subject!) but only because I see so many different fascinations in the world
Here’s the best oil-painting I ever did with my old (Otto) camera. I’ve always had a fondness for industrial spaces – the rusted tumbledown ruins of the once great Massey Ferguson plant were my favourite for all night walking as a teen.
This wedge-shaped park has long been both lovely, and right in the middle of things – next the spiffy ‘theatre’ Shopsy’s deli and my favourite long gone jazz piano lounge (cafe des copains) – right across from the still thriving St Lawrence
I’ve got three words for you, folks – Mapplethorpe Mapplethorpe Mapplethorpe – remember him? Back in the Reagan-weird eighties, there was a HUGE controversy about the absolutely horrible idea that “the government” was going to fun an exhibit of “pornography” at a
In years gone by, it was an annual tradition for some engineering students from the nearby University of Toronto to paint the balls of King Edward VII’s horse bright red every spring as part of a no-doubt dumb and dangerous ritual. I
Here’s a photograph from the lovely Rouge valley. I honestly didn’t notice the gift of that shaft of light, kissing the tree, until I got home – but I always appreciate every one of those signs that the universe is glad we
I’m nuts for brilliant comic art – going all the way back (surely Sidney Paget counts, just as Winsor McKay cannot be ignored). One of my very favourite narrative line-men of all time is Will Eisner, whose “Spirit” insert in American newspapers
Here’s a mostly-visual essay. When do we officially declare working-class habitat endangered, anyhow? (Not until it’s utterly extinct?) These were all caught on the fly on my lovely long city walks with Nada. Gentrification is one of those things that can sometimes